Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Master's Project: Belonging To Place: Redefining Wilderness And Renewing Human-Land Relationships In The Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Region, Lillian Reid Howell

Rubenstein School Masters Project Publications

This project examines how wilderness has historically defined human relationships to land and explores how the wilderness concept might evolve to bring humans into relationship with place in the Champlain-Adirondack Biosphere Region (CABR). The research findings suggest that wilderness has perpetuated a separation between nature and culture that has greatly influenced our collective cultural psyche in the West, and in order to move forward, these elements must be reintegrated into a single holistic system. A review of Indigenous perspectives on wilderness and human-land relationships offers an alternative to the Western wilderness model, which is followed by a discussion of these …

How And Why Do People Value Nature? An Examination Of Nonmaterial Aspects Of Human-Nature Interactions., Tatiana Marquina

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Nonmaterial benefits from nature, often labeled as cultural ecosystem services, represent a core dimension of human well-being. Yet despite their importance, these benefits and associated values remain overlooked in environmental assessments and decisions.

This dissertation applies insights from multiple disciplines to document nonmaterial dimensions of human-nature interactions across geographic contexts and user groups. As nonmaterial benefits can be hard to elicit and measure, this work uses multiple existing data collection methods and tests a novel data collection tool. First, I use a qualitative study design to explore values and stewardship practices associated with urban foraging in New York City, NY. …